Grande Lamp clear out of box but cloudy now. Is there hope?

[TonyTooth]

I bought my first Grande Lamp (blue/yellow) from BestBuy.com. I had done lots of research before buying and read the stories of them arriving cloudy from shipment. It arrived Thursday and I was happy to see it was nice and clear when I pulled it out of the box. The box itself was in perfect shape as well. Once the wax started to melt, it got slightly cloudy. It doesn't look horrible but it surely isn't CLEAR. I have been running it for 8 hours then letting it cool since I got it and I havent noticed improvement. Is this normal with new lamps like this and do you think it will clear? I want to return it before the warranty ends if you think it's doomed. I will include pics tomorrow if that would help. Thanks for your help.

[TonyTooth]

040827 is my number. I guess I am going to contact Lava company for a warranty exchange. I will report back my results with this. BestBuy.com is sold out.

[Randal]

Lava lamps, both new and old, can be cleared. The grande lamps however do take some time. Sometimes 4 - 8 weeks. Simply running them 8 - 10 hours a day will do the trick or you can let globe heat up just enough for the wax to soften up a bit can also do the trick. I think for someone to blame Lava World for "knowingly shipping off cloudy lamps" is absurd. Cloudyness is caused from rough handleing. So the real blame should be on the shipping service. Obviously they were tossing the lamp around while creating a sloshing effect. Lava lamps will become cloudy if they are both cold or hot. Send an email to Lava World's email through [e-mail] if you think it won't clear.

[TonyTooth]

To follow up on this. I ended up with a replacement lamp and it arrived clear. I went ahead and bought a black/clear grande afterwards and it too arrived cloudy like my first one. I was shipped a replacement lamp and it was just as cloudy and the others. So in the end, I ended up with 3 out of 4 cloudy and I paid for 2 lamps. I decided to try and fix them by dumping out the liquid and making new. It worked great on the blue/yellow lamp. I left the water clear with the yellow wax so it would be different than the blue/yellow. I also was able to fix one of the black/clear lamps but the final black/clear one never turned out after countless tries. The wax ended up becoming funky and eventually sticking to the glass . I even took it all out and cleaned the glass really well with no luck. Now I have 3 working great and one empty lamp that I want to try and make from scratch. I need to get some help for this last grande project. I have never made the wax before. It sounds a little more complicated.

[TonyTooth]

OK, I ordered Lava from Louie. It took just over three weeks for it to arrive. I am pretty sure I am missing the orange dye for the wax. All I received was a jar of white wax, surfactant and a dropper. I have yet to speak to Louie even after placing numerous calls. I am sure he is very busy with other projects but a short call would help. Aside from missing the orange dye, I want some direction on how to do this. I have repaired many lamps but I don't want to throw away the 50 bucks I spent with Louie. How and where do I mix the dye with the wax? How and when do I add it to my grande lamp? Do I add magnesium sulfate to the water get the wax flowing? I assumed he would have had some kind of directions included? I feel lost. Did I waste $50? The orange is supposed to be oil based according to his site. What's the difference from the water based goo he has? Do I just use purified water to fill my lamp?

[TonyTooth]

He just called me and gave me the instructions. I am missing the dye but he is going to send me a new batch of wax premixed with the dye. I will post my results after I get the supplies.

[Bertacus]

Hi.

Would you mind passing on the instructions to me if you got them? I also received my goo kit without instruction. I have no idea on how much of the surfactant to add to a 52oz vase. I'm guessing it's added to distilled water. I also have no idea on how many milliliters of dye to add to 300ml of goo. Hope you can shed some light on this. :)

Thanks,
Bert

[TonyTooth]

I gave up with the f***ing lamp even after spending a bunch more money on Lava Louie's kit. I have 1 empty grande lamp, 1 orange lava louie large kit, one white lava louie large kit, brand new dimmer switch plus a stainless screen and spring sitting here in my closet.

ANYONE WANT TO BUY THIS STUFF AND GET IT OUT OF MY LIFE? $75 plus shipping and it's all yours.

[Bertacus]

Oh no!!
Thanks for the reply Tony. I guess I'll have to wait for a reply from Louie. Let me know if your willing to ship the goo kits to Canada. If I can figure it out I might be interested in the kits. Shipping on that lamp I guess would be expensive.

Sorry it didn't work out for you.
Thanks again,
Bert

[TonyTooth]

I was going to put it on eBay. You can see I spent $50 on just one kit and I have 2 plus the lamp its self cost me just over $100 and the dimmer was $12.

[Bertacus]

Hi Tony,

Can you get me a idea on shipping cost to postal code L0R1W0? I know it's a good deal, just don't know about the shipping. Let me know.
Thanks again.
Rob

[Bertacus]

Hi Tony,
My wife just came home from work and it seems that we are very interested in
the lamp and both the goo kits (providing that shipping isn't too bad).
We have found the cheapest way to ship to Canada is U.S.P.S as there are
no additional costs at the door.
Please feel free to email me directly at rgittings@quickclic(dot)net.
Thanks again and looking forward to hearing from you.
Rob

[TonyTooth]

Sorry for the delay but I am in a major process of selling and buying a new home along with moving my business so I am unable to get to this at the moment. I will hit you up as soon as I get settled and maybe we can hash this out.